Crackling Perimeter
Enchantment
Tap an untapped Gate you control: This enchantment deals 1 damage to each opponent.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Gatecrash
- Price
- $0.32
- EDHREC rank
- #16803
Crackling Perimeter turns every Gate you control into a repeatable ping for 1 mana — in a Gate-heavy deck, that's a consistent drain engine that closes games without needing combat. It's a do-nothing card outside Gate synergy, so you run it only when you're already committed to the Gate package.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is the only format where Crackling Perimeter is a real card, specifically inside Maze's End or dedicated Gate-tribal builds where you'll reliably control four or more Gates. In those shells, it's a repeatable damage outlet that curves out cheaply and threatens to ping opponents to death over several turns. Competitive constructed formats like Modern and Legacy offer no reason to run it — Gate synergies don't exist at that level, and a 1-mana enchantment that deals 1 damage per activation can't keep pace. Pioneer is the same story. Crackling Perimeter is a Commander-only niche card, full stop.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.32 bulk tier
At $0.32, Crackling Perimeter is deep bulk — pick it up in any common/uncommon lot without thinking twice. Demand is narrow enough that the price is unlikely to move unless a new Gate commander breaks out, so grab the copy you need now and forget about it.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.